There Goes The Neighborhood
by SyrupandHoneybuns
Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen.
1. Casper the Friendly Ghost and Dracula

**Title: There Goes The Neighborhood 1/1**  
**Author: SyrupandHoneybuns**  
**Pairing: Aidan/Josh. **  
**Rating: M**  
**Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen**.  
**Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.**  
**Author Note: My story does not follow the timeline of the show but facts will remain the same. For example, Sally will be able to touch solid objects soon, probably in chapter two, and Bishop will still be a creepy sexy motherfucker.

* * *

**

There it is again. The need to move, the constant itchy tingling feeling that seems to work its way down his spine to his legs. It is like his whole body is screaming for him to run.

But he doesn't. Instead he pulls the cover over his head and curls his body into the fetal position. He is too much of a coward to even run from his problems.

Aidan stands outside Josh's room with his forehead to the door, just listening. Josh's sobs are muffled sounding through the cheap wooden door. They almost sound like cats mewing for milk from their mother.

His nails scrape at the flakey white paint on the door as he tries to decide what to do.

"You should go in there and comfort him or he's goanna be all moody and bitchy until the full moon," Sally whispers in Aidan's ear as she materializes beside him.

Aidan chuckles and shakes his head no. "Josh isn't the type of person you can force comfort on. Whatever's going on he needs to realize he needs our help and come to us first."

"No, that's you," Sally says in a deadpan voice, then crossed her arms over chest. She is one second from stomping her foot and demanding Aidan go in there and fix their multi-dysfunctional family member.

Aidan purses his lips together and shrugs. Slowly he turns his head back to the door and stares at it like it is some unmovable barrier that is blocking him.

Josh uncovers his head and swings his body right side up and gasps. He can't believe what he is hearing from outside his door. Do they think he is deaf and can't hear what they are talking about?

"Go … in. . . . there. . . or . . . I . . .will!'' Sally overemphasizes each word angrily as she jabs Aidan in the chest, or tries to since her finger keeps sinking into his chest.

"I'm telling you this is a bad ide-" Aidan begins to say.

"Don't care," Sally says, cutting Aidan off.

Aidan gives a dramatic huff before grabbing the door handle and turning it. The sound of the door handle clicking makes Josh scramble out of his bed, kicking the covers that somehow manage to snake around his whole body to the side, and stumble to the door.

He manages to get halfway there before he trips on a discarded pair of jeans and face-plants straight to the floor.

A loud thump coming from inside the room makes Aidan all but rip the door off its hinges trying to get to Josh.

He rushes into the room and is greeted with the sight of Josh sprawled out on the floor on his back clutching his bloody nose in pain.

Aidan sways unsteadily by the door as the smell of fresh blood assaults his sense. Sally huffs in annoyance and simply walks through Aidan, who is blocking her view of Josh.

"Oh my freaking god you're bleeding!" Sally screams before disappearing into a puff of white smoke, rattling the pipes around them as she did so. Sally's hysterics make Aidan snap back to reality. He makes a move to kneel beside his best friend and begins to examine the damage. "Let me see, Josh."

"No, no, it hurts," Josh whines. He swats Aidan's hand away and ducks his face and the crook of his arm. Aidan is close enough to Josh to pry his hands away from his face and tip the other man's head.

"You did a nasty little number on your face but I don't think it's broken. Tell me if this hurts." Aidan applies light pressure to the sides of Josh's nose with his index fingers.

"Yessssss," Josh hisses as he shakes his face away from the other man's grasp. "Wait a second, should you even be in here while I'm bleeding? I don't want you to go all vamped out on me."

"Don't be ridiculous, your cycle doesn't start till tomorrow, and vamped out isn't even a real word." Aidan smirked.

"You know, comparing a woman's monthly gift and turning into a vicious killing machine every month is offensive," Josh says while Aidan helps him off the floor.

"But who has it worse?" Aidan taunts as he clasps his hand on Josh's shoulder and gives it a little squeeze.

"Women do, and for the record it's not a gift, you pricks!" Aidan peeks his head out the door and gives Sally an amused grin. She is sitting on the top of the stairs trying to hide behind the railing.

Josh makes sure he bumps into Aidan's shoulder as he walks out of the room to the bathroom. He isn't surprised that Aidan falls in step behind him and all but pushes him down so he sits on the toilet with his head still tipped back.

"Can you stop manhandling me? It's degrading." Josh, in his defense, isn't pouting, because grown men don't pout or let their best friend manhandle them. Even if said best friend is a vampire.

"Oh, quit bitching and sit still." Aidan wrings out the small hand towel over the sink and then turns and starts apply light pressure all over Josh's face. The blood has already begun clotting and it isn't dripping as much as before, but Josh is still gonna be walking around with a nasty bruise for about a week. Well, they could always come up with a badass cover story like he got mugged or love stuff like that caring for something that's hurt.

"I'm not a bitch so quit calling me that." Josh's pride as a man was starting to dwindle. He had to protect what little he had left now. Being compared to a woman every five seconds was so not cool when you were a dude.

"Let's see, you whine to get your way, you do all the cooking and cleaning, and you turn into a vicious monster every month," Aidan does a gesture in the air like he was tallying points, "you are so a girl."

"Don't forget, he looks fabulous in a dress, or should I say dragbulous." Sally snickers by the door. Josh rolls his eyes at Sally and decides to give her and Aidan the silent treatment, which is a very manly thing to do.

"Is it broken?" Sally asks Aidan.

"No. It's severely bruised but I don't think so," Aidan replies, completely serious.

"What kind of idiot falls face-first anyway? Your hands are supposed to break your fall, buddy." Aidan nods his head in agreement with Sally. Josh takes a sharp intake of breath and grabs the cloth from Aidan's hands, presses it to his nose himself and stands up dramatically.

"You know what I wouldn't of fucking fell if ya'll idiots didn't decide to storm into my room like… um… freaking cop busting a drug raid. Can't a guy have five minutes to himself in this house? Apparently, no, 'cause I live with Casper the Friendly Ghost and Dracula," Josh screams as he grips his head and tugs at his own hair.

He can't deal with this, not today just not today. Josh throws his hands up in frustration, stalks out of the bathroom to his room and slams the door as loud as he can, so the full effect of "leave me the fuck alone" rang loud and clear.

Both Aidan and Sally cringe at the sound of the door slamming shut and stare speechless at each other. "That's it, I'm going to Danny tonight, I can't handle being locked up here with the Big Bad Whine Wolf any longer." Sally disappears into a puff of white, leaving Aidan all alone in the bathroom.

He was about to walk out when Sally suddenly reappears in front of him, making Aidan take a step back in surprise. "Fix this," Sally emphasizes each word with one hand on her hip and the other hand's index finder in Aidan's face, "or you'll be taking cold showers for a month."

Aidan stares down at her like she's crazy, then suddenly poof, she was gone. "Why me?" Aidan groans in misery to no one.

* * *

**Author Note: I wanted to keep the characters, well, um, in character if that makes any sense. I was trying to portray Sally, Aidan, and Josh how they are in the series. So look forward to Josh's OCDness coming out, and Aidan's blood lust affecting his personal life, and Sally's death will all be** i**ncorporated in my story.**


	2. Understanding

**Title: There Goes The Neighborhood 1/2  
Author: SyrupandHoneybuns  
Pairing: Aidan/Josh.  
Rating: M  
Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen.  
Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.  
Author Note: My story does not follow the timeline of the show but facts will remain the same. For example, Aidan's blood lust affecting his personal life and ****Sally's death will all be**** i****ncorporated in my story.

* * *

**

Sally feels calm, that sort of numbing serene feeling you get after long hard day at work where every part of your body is aching and you draw yourself a nice hot bubble bath, or that feeling of just laying together in bed with your lover, arms and legs just wrapped around each other.

She thinks of Danny, his warm smile that made her feel bubbly every time it was directed at her, his mousy brunette hair, and the way he made her smile by just by looking at her. Taking a sudden sharp intake of breath, she opens her eyes.

With one glance around she knows she is no longer in the townhouse but in a small cluttered apartment. Brown moving boxes and bubble wrap litter the living room and kitchen counters.

Still not settled in yet, baby?" Sally muses as she took in her surroundings: the flickering digital clock on the TV mantle, the pile of DVDs on the coffee table next to empty beer bottles, the large leather couch that dominates the middle of the room.

It is a bachelor pad meant for a single man. It isn't a place meant for raising a family or a couple ready for the next big step. Danny has moved on and yet here she was still clinging to the past. Well, why not? It isn't like she has much of a future to look forward to anymore.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Sally stares fearfully up the steps leading to the second floor. Maybe it is time to let Danny go. Is it selfish of her to keep haunting the man?

Maybe it is selfish but she couldn't bring herself to lose the one person who was a constant presence in her life so soon. Sally grips the railing completely ignores, the fact her hand phases right through and walk up the steps.

She has been to Danny's flat enough times to know that his bedroom is the second door to the right. Automatically she reaches for the door knob but stops herself midway and walks straight through the door.

A small desk light on the dresser next to the bed is the only light illuminating Danny's bedroom. He was laying upright with his back to the headboard reading a book on his iPad.

"You know, all this fancy technology is what's going to lead to the cyborg apocalypse. One minute you're going to be texting on the phone and the next, bam, it's going to turn on you and bitch slap you in the face," Sally jokes to non-listening ears.

Every time she visits Danny's she always makes the conscious decision to talk to him even though the man can't hear or see her. It makes the whole experience of seeing him less creepy. It is like playing pretend: she can pretend that she was still alive and they are just hanging out after a long day.

* * *

Aidan scrubs his face with the palms of his hands in weary frustration. This is not how he pictured spending his Thursday night. He should have known the shit would hit the fan as soon as Josh came home from his afternoon shift at the hospital and slammed the front door closed.

When Sally had asked what was wrong Josh had literally growled at them, stomped up the stairs, and barricaded himself in his room. Aidan was going to let the man simmer in peace for a while but when Josh hadn't came down for dinner he got worried.

Well, evidently, he was very impressionable and it took Sally all but two minutes to convince him that Josh needed his help. But when he got to Josh's bedroom door he couldn't bring himself to go in. He could hear the other man's muffled sobbing through the cheap door but couldn't go through the motions of going in.

He was never very good at attending to other people's emotional needs and just stood there like an idiot until Sally came and gave him that extra push he needed to act. But now he wished he had never intervened at all.

Sighing to himself, Aidan turns and clicks off the bathroom light and shuts the door. He feels somewhat like a soldier preparing for battle as he walks down the hall to Josh's room. He doesn't even hesitate to knock first before entering the room .He is mildly surprised to find that the door is not locked or the fact that Josh isn't lying in bed but instead peering out the window from the sill.

Even with his back turned to him Aidan can tell by Josh's body language that the wolf was aware of his presence. "Go away, Aidan. I just want to be alone right now. I don't understand why you and Sally can't understand that, it's not rocket science." Josh growls as he mentally curses at himself for not locking the bedroom door back after he came in. Josh doesn't fret over his blunder for long because he and Aidan both knew that if Aidan wants to get in the flimsy cheap wood and flaky white paint isn't going to keep him out.

"If you're going to give me the brush-off you could at least have the audacity to turn and face me," Aidan says as he moves toward Josh. Josh had expected Aidan to have left after what he said to him but the soft pitter-patter of Aidan's bare feet coming toward him completely shatters that hopeful delusion.

Josh can practically feel Aidan standing behind him but feels none of the warmth radiating from the vampire's body that is usually associated with being in close proximity to someone.

"Are you gonna talk to me?" Aidan asks as he clasps one hand on Josh's shoulder. He can practically feel the muscle under the wolf's skin tense up under his touch.

"Are you gonna leave?" Josh counters and shrugs off Aidan's arm. Josh's eyes dart across the street to a couple making out by the cross light. He envies their ability to look like they didn't have an absolute care in the world for a second.

"Look, we both know I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what's wrong, so fess up already." Aidan says, crossing his arms over his chest. Josh grips the frame on the window and takes four deep breaths trying to calm himself.

"Don't ignore me, goddammit!" Aidan yells, and for the first time tonight he loses his calm and cool demeanor. Josh snaps. Where does Aidan get off on telling him what to do?

"Maybe I don't feel like sharing. Do you ever think about that or is your head too far stuck up your ass that you don't care." Josh turns around and shoves Aidan straight in his chest, making the other man stagger back a little in shock.

"You don't want to get physical with me, Josh." The dark feral look crossing Aidan's features should have made Josh back off but it only serves to entice his anger more. "Or what?" Josh taunts; he emphasizes each word with a shove to the vampire's chest.

Despite their recent confrontations, Josh isn't expecting Aidan to sucker-punch him in the jaw. The force of the blow causes Josh to stagger backward against the window glass.

Immediately Aidan was upon him, pinning him with his hands above his. "What the fuck, Aidan? Get off of me." Josh screams, bucking wildly against other the man. Josh is kicking, screaming, and clawing at vampire skin in an effort to break free of the man's grasp but it is like trying to push a freaking freight train up a hill.

"I'm not letting you go until you talk. This shit ends tonight, whatever's bothering you I want to know!" It felt weird to Josh to have Aidan's body pressing so closely to his, not because of the fact that it is another man but there is no warm breath ghosting over his skin when Aidan talks. It is the first really big reminder that Aidan isn't technically alive nor human.

For ten minutes, Aidan holds Josh firmly in his unrelenting grip as Josh thrashes and screams beneath him. Then suddenly Josh's body slowly goes slack under his. Even with his transformation being tomorrow Josh still tires out easily like a human after long periods of being active and skipping dinner didn't help the matter at all.

" You . . . . . . wouldn't. . . . . understand, Aid. . Aidan," Josh stutters. The wolf hadn't even realized he was crying until Aidan released his hand and gently cupped the wolf's face in the palms of his hands. Taking his thumb Aidan wipes under Josh's eye, rubbing the tears away.

Maybe Sally had been right, forcing Josh into a confrontation is the best way to get his friend to open up.

"I can't understand something I don't know. Just tell me what's wrong, you know I won't judge you for it." Aidan's voice is barely above a whisper. It is both firm and understanding. It was the voice he used when he needed a patient to open up to him at the hospital.

"You're right, I don't. I just... I... don't like being backed into corners, okay. I get that you and Sally want to help but sometimes you have to figure out things on your own. You know?" Josh says.

"I know how it feels, being in that fight or flight mode, but holding something inside of you can eat and eat away at you until you feel like an empty husk of yourself." Images of Rebecca flash in Aidan's head. But the image that haunts his every wake is seeing her in Bishop's clutches draining some unlucky bastard she picked up from a bar that night he went to go visit her. He had made her a killer because he can't control his most primal urges during sex.

"No, you don't get what I'm feeling, Aidan, you could never understand. You lived with your curse for two hundred years. Every day it's a constant struggle for you, but that's who you are, not me. Every month is like a clock winding down, always reminding me I have turn into a monster. Every month there is a possibility I might wake up naked next to a dead human body that I maimed instead of a deer carcass." Josh is tugging on the strands of his hair and looking down at the floor as he rants.

"Are you done bullshitting, Josh, because the 'I'm a monster' rant isn't what's bothering you right now." Aidan doesn't mean to sound uncaring, but the torment of transformation into a werewolf every month was, yes, something Josh had been struggling with, but after moving in together and finding fellow kin it has gotten easier for him.

Josh stares at Aidan in disbelief. Could the man see right through him so easily?" Can we sit down before I tell you? I don't think I can support my own weight much longer," Josh said tentatively.

Aidan looks behind them and scans the room for something sit on. Josh has a computer desk but no chair by the door, there is a king-size bed to their right, a bookcase filled with books that Aidan knows firsthand are arranged by color and size, and open wooden floor space.

"Bed?" Josh says, as more as a statement than a question.

Aidan nods his head in agreement and watches Josh plop down on the bed, absently rubbing the bruise forming on his jaw from where Aidan had hit him. The bed rises a little when Aidan sits down next to Josh, who is doing his best to avoid Aidan's piercing gaze. Instead he focuses on the back wall and wonders whether his dogs playing poker painting has been leaning crooked for long.

"Ahem." Aidan's cough is condescending. He has his arms crossed over his chest and is staring down at Josh. Josh rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath to steady his nerves.

"I met another wolf last month," Josh says while looking down at his conjoined hands in his lap.

* * *

**Author Note: I wanted this chapter to have a much darker and sadder undertone than the first so hopefully I managed to pull that off. Also, in the third chapter the story will be picking up and we get to find out more about what Josh is hiding from Aidan and Sally. I'm going to have Ray make an appearance but not like how he was in the TV series. He won't be teaching Josh how to be a wolf or anything more like make his life hell and four OC characters will appear.**


	3. OCD Wolf Says What?

**Title: There Goes The Neighborhood 1/3 Pt. 1  
Author: SyrupandHoneybuns  
Pairing: Aidan/Josh  
Rating: M  
Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen.  
Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.  
Author Note: My story does not follow the timeline of the show but facts will remain the same. For example, Danny will be a two-timing lying bastard and Bridget will still be a slag.**

* * *

Danny can feel the start of a headache pooling right behind his eyes. It started with a dull ache that grew into a steady throbbing sensation that was rapidly spreading throughout his body. He closes out of his browser and places his iPad to the side of him. Closing his eyes, he leans back onto his pillow and pinches the bridge of his nose. That is when he notices the faint but lingering scent of vanilla and coconut. The more he concentrates on it the more pungent the smell seems to get. He suddenly snaps his eyes open and looks around the room. His breath catches in the back of throat as he realizes why the scent is so familiar and calming to him.

Sally had smelled that way when she died. They had gotten a care package in the mail from his mom a couple of days after they had moved into the townhouse, It had assortment of goodies but he could distinctly remembers two bottles of vanilla and coconut perfume. The perfume had come from some upscale boutique so Sally had sprayed herself and all of their furniture.

But that doesn't explain why he smells it now. He had thrown out everything that had reminded him of her after the funeral.

* * *

"Was it your first time meeting someone of your own kind?" Aidan asks. Josh looks up from his conjoined hands and nods his head yes. Aidan licks his lips nervously and scoots closer to Josh so their shoulders bump together.

Josh playful bumps Aidan back with his shoulder then sighs. "I didn't think there were others like me in the world, much less Boston." Josh has a distant look in his eyes as he stares forward at a painting of two dogs playing poker hanging on his wall. The longer he stares at it the more the overwhelming need to straighten it becomes evident.

"Josh, come on, you always had to know whoever attacked you two years ago had to be a wolf himself to pass it on to you," Aidan says. He knows his friend is in denial about the attack but Aidan has a growing nagging feeling that whatever was bothering Josh had to do with it somehow. Aidan looks over to the tacky painting of dogs playing poker that Josh is so fixated on. The painting had been a house warming gift from Danny. It had been such a eyesore that Aidan immediately wanted to throw it out but Sally and Josh had begged him to keep it. Eventually, like always, he gave into his roommates.

"I know that, but why would I want to wish this curse on someone else?" Josh snaps while standing up. Aidan tenses for a moment, thinking Josh was about to make a break for it; instead he walks over to the picture and tilts it to the left so it isn't crooked anymore.

Aidan mentally slaps himself. How can he be this stupid? As Aidan stands up he can't help feeling that he is skating on thin ice when he moves toward Josh. Josh listens to the bed squeak then tracks Aidan's movement towards him. Aidan is smart enough not to touch Josh this time. Instead he offers his presence beside Josh, which strangely starts to sooth the wolf. Josh takes a deep breath. He turns so he is facing Aidan, who is staring blankly at him.

"It happened about a month ago." There is a hint of defeat in Josh's voice but strangely he didn't care anymore. He just wants this night to be over as soon as possible

* * *

**(Flashback)**

"He doesn't look like much," a ginger-haired woman scoffs as she gives the naked unconscious man in front of her the once-over. Morning light filters through the top tree branches, illuminating the forest floor below.

"Doesn't matter. He's still one of us, Jenna." Stephen's tone leaves no room for arguments, not that Jenna would ever dream of voicing her disagreement in his presence, but she can't help feeling uneasiness toward the stranger in front of them. The unconscious man was not yet officially part of their pack and to her that means one thing.

Outsider.

The unconscious man is curled up in the fetal position with his head tucked into his chest and his back turned to the pack. Gently, Stephen rolls the man over onto his back and pulls him upright so the man is leaning into his chest. He immediately begins nuzzling the other wolf's neck, inhaling what soon would become a familiar scent. Unconsciously Josh bares his neck to the man. Stephen's eyes widen. Even asleep the other wolf recognizes that he is in the presence of an Alpha. Gently, he nips the exposed skin, marking the man as his territory.

Josh shifts in the man arms then lets out a throaty groan as his eyes flutter open. His gaze is upward towards the sky, slowing trailing downwards to the tree branches, then to pair of broad shoulders. It takes him a couple of seconds to realize he's being held by someone. Jenna tenses, ready to pounce on the outsider as he jerks awake and scoots back frantically from their Alpha, but Stephen holds up his hands, halting her movement. She growls but doesn't move from her perch by the tree.

"This isn't what it looks like," Josh blurts out, snapping Stephen's attention back to him. Now that the other wolf is awake, Stephen takes time to take in the other man's features. His eyes roam over the lanky body, which is covered in small scratches and blood. The wolf had a mop of brown hair and large doe-like eyes.

"So you're not naked in a forest next to a deer carcass then?" Stephen jokes, trying to lighten the mood but having the opposite effect. Josh bites his lower lip to keep it from quivering and stares up at Stephen with a mixture of shock and disbelief on his face. Josh feels like crying; how many times has Aidan warned him that something like this might happen if he didn't find a safer place to change during the full moon?

Stephen feels like raking a hand through his hair. This is not going as he planned. Instead of sweeping his future mate off his feet and welcoming him into their pack he was scaring the kid half to death. "Hey, it's okay, we're like you," Stephen says, moving closer to Josh.

"Wha-?" Josh feels like he can't breathe. Everything is happening too fast and too soon for Josh's liking. He's been transforming for two whole years and never run into another wolf, and now all of a sudden there are two in front of him. Josh pales as the realization hits him like a freight train. He isn't alone. There are others who shared his curse. Without even thinking Josh stands up and takes off running into the forest around them. He feels like a spring elk, the way he's leaping over logs, darting through bushes, and ducking under low-hanging branches as he hurries away.

* * *

**Author notes: The reason it took me so long to update this chapter is by nature I'm a perfectionist and I literally obsess over every line I write. But for some reason I couldn't picture how I wanted this chapter to go so for the past couple of weeks I've been rewriting this chapter over and over and not liking it. I don't know if I capture Josh's reaction to Stephen and Jenna right so hopefully you guys will tell me in your reviews if you like it or hated so I know to go on with my story.**


	4. OCD Wolf Says What pt 2

**Title: There Goes The Neighborhood 1/3pt2  
Author: SyrupandHoneybuns  
Pairing: Aidan/Josh  
Rating: M  
Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen.  
Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.  
Author Note: My story does not follow the timeline of the show but facts will remain the same. For example, Danny will be a two-timing lying bastard and Bridget will still be a slag.**

* * *

Josh pushes his already-tired body farther as the sound of footsteps thundering behind him becomes louder and closer. He can hear his name being shouted but fear prevents him from stopping. There is a fence ahead of him. He quickly scales over it and lands in the backyard of some condo. There are two rows of clothes hanging out on a line in front of him. At first Josh doesn't notice the little blond boy standing on the other side of the line just staring up at him, he was too busy trying to find something decent to wear. He opens his mouth to explain himself but decides against it and just grabs the floral dress off the line.

As Josh comes up to Aidan's parked car he can't help but feel like he just took the walk of shame. He is barefoot, covered in questionable substances, and to make matters worse his dress is split up the side. Josh doesn't say anything to Aidan as he climbs in the car. They had been doing this long enough to know how this would go. First Aidan would hand him a pair of clean clothes, then his Star of David pendant, and last a bottle of water.

Josh dampens the rag in his hands with the water bottle Aidan hands to him and proceeds to scrub the dirt off his body. He is scrubbing so hard red blotches are starting to appear on his arm. Just the thought of a stranger touching his body sent him into a tizzy.

"You little slut," Aidan chuckles, while looking down at Josh's exposed thigh.

**(End of Flashback)**

* * *

Aidan feels his gut painfully clench. He stands there stunned, unable to voice the thousands of question running through his head. Aidan thinks back to the time when he had first chosen to resist the urge to feed upon humans. He remembers the utter disbelief etched on Bishop's face as he told his sire he was leaving the coven. Of course Bishop had retaliated by feeding into his addiction, making it harder for him to say no.

Despite the animosity between him and Bishop, Aidan didn't really hate his sire, well, not in the beginning anyway, because Bishop was able to provide him with something he no longer had after he was bitten, and that was a family.

Aidan wasn't naïve enough to believe that he and Sally could provide Josh with the same stability that a wolf pack could. Their afflictions were to different for that. Josh studies Aidan's face; the vampire's upper lip is curled, eyebrows pinched together, and his eyes are glazed over like he was lost in thought or constipated. "Did vampires even poo?" Josh thinks, then he shakes his head a second later. Whether or not Aidan makes chocolate brownies in the toilet was not on the list of things Josh wants to know about his roommate

"Umm... Aidan," Josh leans forward and waves in hand in front of Aidan's face, "you still with me, ma-?" Aidan smacks Josh's hand away from his face and stands straighter.

"Do you want to join his pack?" Aidan bluntly asks.

Josh can't believe what he is hearing. Why would he want to be a part of the very thing that ripped away his mundane life? "Don't be stupid, I don't want to be apart of anything that has to do with the wolf," Josh declares. Aidan knows that if Sally were in the room with them she would have been the first person to call Josh out on trying distance himself from the wolf. Even after two years, Josh stills believes that "the wolf" is a completely different entity that invades his body only on full moons.

Aidan nods his head. He can understand wanting to distance yourself from the very thing that makes you a monster, an outcast from society.

Aidan thrusts a hand into the pocket of his jeans. "Werewolves are very territorial creatures. If you don't want to join his pack, you need to keep your distance."

"Where am I supposed to change, then? It's not like there's a five-star hotel room I can check into." Josh rolls his eyes and puts one hand on his hip. Aidan interprets this gesture as "You're stupid and I don't have to listen to what you say."

"Ask me that tomorrow."

"Why?" Josh narrows his eyes and stares suspiciously at Aidan.

"Because that gives me nine hours to come up with an answer." Aidan's grin is teasing but Josh can tell the undertone is still serious.

* * *

Sally feels weird. She has been doing this ghost thing long enough now to know when someone is looking in her general direction and when someone is looking at her, and Danny is most definitely looking at her.

Danny scoots forward and reaches his hand out toward Sally. "Sally?" he breathlessly calls out. Sally's image starts to rapidly flicker in and out like static on a television at the acknowledgment of her presence. Sally hesitantly reaches her hand out toward Danny, her chocolate-brown eyes bright with longing, but fear clouds her every movement.

Sally and Danny are inches away from grasping each other's hands when his phone goes off. The cell phone vibrates violently as the ringtone foster the people - pumped up kicks plays in the background. Danny snatches his hand back, scrambles over to the side of his bed, and grabs his cell phone off the dresser. "Oh, hey... No, I was still up," Danny quickly reassures Bridget. His eyes monetarily scans the room before he settle comfortable back down on his bed.

Sally feels like she has just been punked or something. She has been waiting for a moment like this for months and just when they were literally inches from touching his phone goes off. How fucking cliché was that?

"I had a great time tonight, too." Danny smiles and does that little gesture where he runs his hand through his hair bashfully.

"Had a great time doing what?" Sally floats closer to Danny and crosses her arms. She feels like a wife whose husband just confessed to having an affair.

"Yeah, the pizza was kind of burnt, but the cheese was a pile of melted gooey goodness," Danny chuckles, oblivious to Sally's seething glare.

"Pizza?" Sally repeats, unsure if she had heard Danny correctly.

"It's been hard, I won't lie… sometimes I feel like she's still with me, you know?" Danny silently prides himself for making his voice hitch like he can't fathom living life without Sally. As if!

Sally feels a single tear glide down her cheek as she stares teary-eyed at her lover. Can he really sense her presence? Was she hurting him by staying? She doesn't stay for the rest of the conversation. Instead she phases out of the room onto the street and drifts down the sidewalk. She looks over her shoulder just in time to see the light click off in the window of Danny's condo.

* * *

**Author notes: I like to start off by apologizing to my reviewers\readers for taking so long to update this story. I'm really hate posting chapter that I don't like and for some reason I had a major case of writer block. Every time I wrote something I ended up erasing it because I didn't like the flow of the words for this chapter.**** I'm almost done with chapter five and since it took me like a month to update this story I made sure to write an extra long chapter for ya'll. It's literary more than two thousands words.**


	5. Scrubs pt 1

**Title: There Goes The Neighborhood 1/4  
Author: SyrupandHoneybuns  
Pairing: Aidan/Josh.  
Rating: M  
Summary: Josh is acting weird, well, more weird than he usually is, and it causes problems no one would have foreseen.  
Warnings: Clumsiness and strong language. You have been warned.  
Author Note: My story does not follow the timeline of the show but facts will remain the same. For example, Tony DePaulo, another ghost who died in 1987, will still befriend Sally and teach her more about her ghostly abilities.**

* * *

Josh doesn't like hospitals. The faint smell of disinfectant that clings to the walls, the very feel of the place, makes him more than vaguely uneasy. Admittedly, it isn't a rational way for an orderly to feel, but Josh can't help himself. Being in a hospital doesn't feel rational, not when there are so many things that could go wrong. The image of Aidan leaning over a patient bed with his fangs exposed and his eyes black flashes through Josh's mind.

"Hey are you listening?" Aidan snaps his fingers in front of Josh's face, drawing the wolf's attention back to reality. The electronic doors spring to life, startling Josh as they approach the entrance to Suffolk County Hospital.

"Sorry. What did you say, I wasn't paying attention?" If possible, Josh feels even more agitated once they enter the hospital. There are huge potted plants everywhere. Diffuse sunshine from a skylight illuminates the large foyer with natural light rather than an artificial hue. It was designed to silently comfort an incoming patient. Josh doesn't understand how a place that doesn't condemn death is supposed to be comforting.

"Clearly," Aidan says dryly, "I said meet me by the park bench during lunch so we can talk." Aidan unhooks the clipboard with the nurse schedule printed on it and strolls down it till he finds both his and Josh's names. He scribbles his names on a blank time slot and passes the clipboard over to Josh.

Josh nods his head and accepts the clipboard from Aidan. "Did you find a place for me to... umm..." Josh smacks his lips together and stares nervously around the hospital like he expects a camera crew to pop out at any given moment.

"To change?" Aidan chimes in.

"Shhhhhhh," Josh places the back of his hand on Aidan's lips, "not so loud, dude, someone might hear you."

"Ugh. Can you two be any gayer?"

Josh cringes and slowly looks over his shoulder at Nora, who is skimming through the newly-printed forms of patients at the hospital. She has on a pair of unflattering blue scrubs with a stethoscope dangling around her neck. Her hair is pulled up in a loose ponytail with a side bang in the front.

"Hey, Nor-"

Nora's cornflower blue eyes, bright with undisguised anger, snap up from the patient forms as she glares at Josh. "Are you talking to me?" Nora points to herself. "What did I say was going to happen if you talk to me again. Huh?" Nora takes a menacing half step toward Josh.

Josh's shoulder slump. "You're gonna press sexual harassment charges against me," Josh mumbles under his breath

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Nora places a hand to her ear. "I can't hear you."

"You're going to press sexual harassment charges against me," Josh repeats louder, emphasizing each word. Aidan bites his lip, trying to stifle the laughter that bubbles up in his throat as he watches the exchange between Nora and Josh.

"Got that right, bub." Nora turns and walks away down the hall, her tennis shoes squeaking obnoxiously loud, as she disappears through the double doors.

"Smooth," Aidan chuckles.

Josh turns and playfully punches Aidan's arm. "Shut up."

* * *

Sally stares down at the shiny plaque. The words _Sally Rue Malik, March 6, 1987 to January 17, 2011_, are carved into the marble. After leaving Danny's condo, Sally drifted around town till she ended up in the cemetery where she's buried.

The memory of her funeral is still fresh in her mind. She remembers the way the casket was covered in white rose petals, the glossy mahogany box with its gleaming brass handles suspended over the open grave, and her father clutching her mother as she cried. It was such a surreal experience, watching and knowing that her body was being lowered into the ground as her family and friends stood around her, grieving.

"God, you're so depressing," Tony says as he materializes sitting down on Sally's gravestone. "Boo hoo, I'm dead and no one can see me."

* * *

It's twelve fifteen. Josh is waiting on Aidan by the nurse's station when he feels a pair of hands clap his shoulder. "Aidan?" Josh's smile falters as he turns, expecting to see Aidan standing there, but instead David, the resident douchebag of the hospital, is standing behind him holding a red hazardous-materials bag in his hands.

"Hey, man, do you mind tossing this out back for me?" David asks as he waves the bag in front of Josh's face.

"No," Josh says, shrugging David's arm off, "that is clearly labeled hazardous, you need to go through the proper procedure of disposal. Tossing it out back could get us fired. Plus, I'm waiting on Aidan."

"The bag is just a cover. Caught one of the newbies smoking in the storage closet and told her I get rid of them without telling if she let me take her out tonight," David says, while shoving the bag into Josh's chest and making the other man take it.

"If it's nothing, then you toss it." Josh rolls his eyes; he can't help but feel sorry for the intern David blackmailed. Her night is guaranteed to be full of cheesy sexual innuendos and blatant attempts to look down her blouse.

"The thing is, I don't have the time. I just got paged to Patricia's room for her sponge bath, and you know what happened last time I was late."

Josh snickers. This has to be karma: Patricia is a ninety-six-year-old woman who always manages to drop her soap in her bathwater, making David go and fetch it. She also has a bad habit of knocking over her oxygen tank over and making David pick it up so she can ogle his butt.

"Are you seriously laughing at me? I swear, every time I enter her room she eye fucks me like she's about to run me over with her walker and rape me or something." David shudders at the mental picture that pops in his head.

"Fine, but you owe me for this," Josh grumbles as he turns and starts walking down the hall. Josh pauses by the exit doors as they spring open for him. He steps into the murky back alley of the hospital and walks around the building till he comes to large, dingy-looking dumpster. His nose wrinkles from the foul odor emanating from the dumpster. He gags as he lifts the lid and tosses the bag in.

"Well, if isn't Aidan's little bitch."

"Bishop?" Josh squeaks as he whips around to face the other man. Bishop's face is hidden in the shadows but Josh can make out the barest hint of other man's silhouette.

"Why are you here?" Josh takes a step back from the advancing man till his back is pressed up against the gravel wall.

"A man was attacked in this alleyway earlier today," Bishop says as he places the palms of his hands on both sides of Josh's head, firmly encasing him. "I was investigating but I just found something far more interesting to examine."

"You're... kidding... right?" Josh's voice rises hysterically. He is about twenty-six percent sure that Bishop won't kill him, but then again two years ago Josh was pretty sure vampires, ghosts, and werewolves didn't exist.

Josh stares up at the vampire, his doe-like eyes wide with fear. He should have never looked up, because when he did he'd locked eyes with those of a predator.

"I just don't understand Aidan's obsession with you. You smell like wet dog, probably taste like one too. You're not insanely beautiful, he could do better. I just don't understand why he chooses to ignore the only family who ever loved and accepted him for a mutt," Bishop hisses into Josh's ear.

Josh cringes and arches his back into the wall. He is starting to feel like a flattened pancake. Bishop suddenly jerks back from Josh; his eyes turn obsidian black and his fang protrude fully from his gums.

"Werewolves!" Bishop growls as five shadows dart into the alleyway, moving at an inhuman speed.

* * *

**Author notes: I feel like such a failure right now, my goal was to have these chapter two thousand five hundred words but that didn't happen. I got to 1,521 words then suddenly got a major brain fart. So instead of making ya'll wait another week for a chapter I decide to post what I have so far.**

** Also, Ex Mentis, it good to know that I've have a kindred spirit out there. Writer block suck ass especially when you want to write and can't think of anything to write.**


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